Eternal Mercy
by The Tambourine Man
Summary: The Blue Lions return for their less-than-joyous five year reunion. Except that Mercedes is absent, and Annette is oddly mad at her old friend.


**Author's Note: I'll probably regret posting a fic for a game that isn't out yet, but I'd probably regret not doing it more.**

It was the reunion they had promised five years ago. The friends of the Blue Lion house together again, along with their beloved teacher Byleth. The halls of Garrag Moch monastery looked much the way they had five years ago. It should have been a joyous occasion. The whole of Fódlan knew that war was just over the horizon. The students all seemed to have aged far more than the scant five years should allow.

Ashe barely talked to anyone.

Annette had once been so lively. Her new demeanor, dour and grim, made her seem like a different person altogether.

Felix seemed more humble, but Byleth could see the way right arm didn't move quite right anymore.

Sylvain made only a half-hearted attempt at hitting on Ingrid, and she barely acknowledged it at all.

Dedue couldn't seem to stray more than five feet from Dimitri, and Dimitri was the worst. It wasn't just the dirty, overgrown hair, or the missing eye; his whole manner of moving seemed different, feral. Byleth did his best to ignore it and act like everything was normal, but he knew that Dimitri wasn't fooled.

They talked about what they had been doing for the last five years. A lot of what was said was either vague or clearly leaving a lot out. There was a bit of genuine cheer, but much of it was forced. Byleth did his best to engage his students, but his eyes kept turning back to the door of the hall in anticipation.

And finally, Byleth asked the question that had been bothering him the most.

"Where's Mercedes?"

Everyone went quiet after that. All eyes turned to Byleth. He saw reproach in some, and sympathy in others. Annette, surprisingly, looked like she was trying to glare a hole through Byleth.

Byleth could feel his blood running cold. There were some very obvious risks "Don't tell me she-"

"We don't know." Annette said angrily. "Your pet might be dead. But she might not be."

Byleth blinked, taken aback. Annette and Mercedes had always seemed like the closest of friends. Annette got mad now and then, but he'd never seen her this angry at Mercedes.

"Annie, please." Sylvain said. "You don't need to take it out on him. He didn't know."

"What happened to her? Did she go missing?" Byleth asked.

Annette snorted. "She left. A few days after we graduated, I woke up and she was just… _gone._ She took her things and left in the middle of the night. She didn't say where she was going. Didn't leave a note. Just… gone."

"What!?" Byleth said.

"Oh, that's not even the worst of it." Annette said icily. "I tried going to the empire. I thought that maybe she'd gone back to her old home. Do you know what House Martlitz told me, when I showed up and asked them where Mercedes was?" Annette asked, struggling not to cry.

"No." said Byleth, feeling like he had a bonfire in his stomach. "What did they say?"

"'Who's that? There is no Mercedes here. There never has been.'" Annette said.

Everyone in the room perked up at that. More than a few confused glances where exchanged. Sylvain seemed to the only one who wasn't surprised.

"W-what?" Byleth asked. "What? What does that mean? How could her family-"

"Because they weren't her family." Annette cut him off curtly. "She lied. She lied to me. She lied to all of us. She was never who she said she was. And when she thought I might found out, she just… left." That was the breaking point for her. Annette broke down sobbing. Sylvain went to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"But.. She couldn't have lied." Byleth replied. "She had the Minor Crest. That's not something that can be faked."

Sylvain shook his head. "How do you explain her family not knowing anything about her?" His sad tone let Byleth know he didn't particularly want to argue against him.

"Professor- er, I guess it's just Byleth now- did Mercedes ever say anything to you about anything like this? Any kind of… secret?" Dedue asked.

Byleth shook his head. "Why do you think she would have?" he asked.

"Because you were, well…" Dedue struggled with words.

"You were our teacher." Byleth blinked in surprise as he realized that Dimitri had joined the conversation. "You were our leader in battle. The one we were trusting to lead us, to give us guidance in life. If we were going to let anyone in on our secrets, it would be you."

Byleth sighed. He had grown to love teaching, but he would never like the pressure that came with it. "I got the feeling she was hiding something. She always seemed a little… paranoid, maybe? But no, she never told me what."

"Who cares, anyways?" Said Annette, having calmed down somewhat. "We should all just forget about her."

"Please don't." The voice said it softly and simply, yet the shock it sent through the room was palpable. Everyone in the room turned to face the door as one. The figure standing there, the newest arrival to the reunion, was wearing a cloak with the hood hanging over her head, but everyone recognized the voice.

"Speak of the devil…" Byleth said idly.

Annette didn't bother with words. She simply got up, strode over to the newcomer, and slapped her in the face.

The hooded figure put a hand to her cheek, keeping her head down. "It's good to see you again, Ann." Despite the context, she said it with complete sincerity.

"How much of that did you hear?" Dimitri asked.

"I heard most of what Ann said." Mercedes answered. Annette seemed to be fighting the desire to slap her again. "And… she's right about a few things. I have been keeping secrets."

"I think I've already figured it out." Byleth said. "You're a bastard, aren't you? The result of some noble's infidelity they dumped in another country so nobody would find out, right? That's why they hadn't heard about you even though you have the Crest."

"That's… a very reasonable conclusion to come to." Mercedes answered, "but I'm afraid that's not it. The truth is much… stranger." She put her hands on her hood and pulled it off, finally giving everyone a proper look at her face.

"You look just like I remember." Byleth said.

"Thank you." Said Mercedes, with a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "But that's part of the issue here." She turned to Annette, and almost looked her in the eye. "We first met about eight years ago, right? Do I look any different now than I did back then?"

"…No." Said Annette, her anger temporarily eclipsed by confusion. "When we met, you were… Ugh, how old are you? You never told me!"

"…It happened when I went for a walk in the woods one day. I went farther than I normally did. Much further. After a while, the forest stopped looking like any I'd seen before. I met a girl there. Or someone who looked like a girl. She didn't exactly sound young, from the way she talked. She said she was trying to break a curse, so I offered to help her. We did some whole ritual together, but it didn't look like anything changed. She thanked me for my help and left. I never saw her again."

"I see." Ingrid interjected. "What was the point of that story?"

"We did accomplish something; I haven't aged at all since then." Mercedes answered simply.

"When did that happen?" Ingrid asked.

"Four hundred and thirty-seven years ago." Mercedes answered matter-of-factly.

"Why?" Annette asked. "Why didn't you just tell me earlier?"

Mercedes flinched. "I've told people before. A lot of times. Usually they don't believe me. And some of the ones that did weren't very happy about it."

"You could have trusted us." Annette said. Her anger had burned out. She sounded hollow.

"Yes." Mercedes answered, wiping something away from her eye. "I should have."

Byleth strode over to Mercedes. He stood straight and tall, the picture of the confident teacher they all looked up to. Mercedes averted her eyes.

"You've caused a lot of pain by leaving like that, Mercedes." Byleth said.

"…I know." Mercedes answered, barely able to muster a whisper.

"This isn't something that can be quickly forgiven." Byleth added.

Mercedes nodded.

Byleth pulled her into a hug. Mercedes let out a startled squeak.

"And despite that, I'm happy to see you again."

He let her go. Mercedes pulled away. She still couldn't muster any words, but the baffled look on her face asked the question well enough. _Why?_

"Because you're still one of my old students. Still one of my… friends." He turned to look at all of his old class. "And right now, with what's on the horizon, we need all the people on our side that we can get."

"It… would be nice to have your help. Mercedes." Annette said.

"I would be glad to offer you my help." Mercedes said.

Byleth nodded. Some things could be rebuilt. It wasn't as if Mercedes didn't have time.

**Author's Note: I may write a new version of this story after the game is out. I actually want to pick the Blue Lions because I think the character bios for Dimitri, Mercedes, and Ashe raise some interesting questions.**


End file.
